GIANT Photo Gallery: Stevenson stops Cloud

By Dave Spencer at ringside
Photos: Herby Whyne

WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis “Superman” Stevenson (22-1, 9 KOs) scored a one-sided seventh round TKO over former IBF titlist Tavoris Cloud (24-2, 19 KOs) on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Stevenson was in control from the beginning, outboxing and breaking down Cloud. The fight was stopped by Cloud’s trainer Al Bonanni between rounds seven and eight due to cuts over both Cloud’s eyes. It was the first time Cloud has been stopped.

“In four months I have beaten two great champions at this weight,” said Stevenson, who previously campaigned at super middleweight. Next up for “Superman” will be a defense against mandatory challenger Tony Bellew, possibly as soon as November 30 in Quebec City.

In a walkout bout, middleweight KO artist David Lemieux moved to 30-2, 28 KOs after an eight round unanimous decision over 6’4 Marcus Upshaw (15-11-2, 7 KOs). Lemieux dropped Upshaw in round three bou had to settle for just the second decision victory in his career. Scores were 80-71 on all cards.

Former world light-heavyweight Jean Pascal returned to the ring after a 9 month absence and sharpened up versus George Blades (23-5-2) scoring 3 knockdowns and gaining a TKO victory at 2:54 of the 5th round. Pascal who faces fellow Montrealer Lucian Bute in January looked over anxious to start things out and seemed to be pressing with power and looking for a spectacular knockout. A big left hand hurt Blades in the second and Pascal who was a class above finally scored the decisive blow in the 5th with a debilitating right uppercut in the 5th. It was quick work from there for Pascal with two more knockdowns.

Undefeated light-heavyweight Elieder Alvarez (13-0 8KO) scored a 99-90, 97-92 and inexplicable 95-94 decision over fellow Colombian and former world title challenger Edison Miranda. Alcarez scored with a huge right to start the 8th that sent Miranda down in the corner, but the veteran fighter was able to survive the round despite eating a steady diet of leather for the 3 minute duration. Alvarez was control for much of the 10 round contest, effectively using his jab and being the quicker of the two fighters. Miranda had an effective 7th, landing with some nice lead left hooks, but the hometown squashed any hopes of a comeback with the dominating 8th.

Undefeated welterweight Kevin Bizier (21-0 14KO) scored a unanimous 60-53 (X3) decision over Giuseppe Lauri in a less than scintillating 6 rounder. The Italian Lauri who has lost 4 one-sided decisions in Montreal in 2013 and was penalized a point for holding in the final frame which pretty well summarized the action for the night. Lauri now has lost 6 in a row and 9 of his last ten and falls to 53-15 (31KO).

A habitually slow starter, welterweight Antonin Deccarie was forced into a gutsy 59-55, 58-56, 58-56 decision over a game and competitive Salim Labri (17-4-2 5KO) of France. Decarie was fighting his first six-rounder since 2007 following up his defeat earlier this year in Argentina versus Luis Abregu for WBC Silver belt. Things were made that much more difficult for the Montreal fighter as a badly cut left eye from a Labri right hand limited his vision over the course of the final two rounds. But Decarie was able to come over the top with some solid right hands over the the second half of the fight cementing the victory and moving him back into the win column and pushing his record to 28-2 (8KO).

While the City of Montreal has produced notable names in the light-heavyweight division such as Stevenson, Pascal, Bute and Alvarez, another new name is quickly emerging from the seemingly endless pipeline competing at 175 pounds. In just his second professional fight, two-time Olympian and former amateur champion Artur Beterbiev made short of Rayco Saunders (23-21-2 10KO) with a third round TKO victory. Saunders who has only ever been stopped once, in 2003, was down 3 times and could not continue due to a leg injury that eventually had the 39 year-old leaving the ring on a stretcher. Predictably, this one was all Beterbiev as the hammer fisted Russian looked to make a statement. Saunders was down in the second on what could arguably be called a slip, but the Russian tank kept rolling forward and scored with a crisp left in the third. A right hand had Saunders down and on shaky legs and seemingly saved by the bell to end the third, but Saunders was grasping at his right leg and didn’t come close to making it back to his corner, giving Beterbiev (2-0 2KO) the stoppage win.